Senator Edward Kennedy died late last night, and the news networks have been busily reporting on his life and his life's work. At dinner tonight my friend from Ireland asked the table why Teddy's death was so important. After a couple of replies, he said, "ah, so he's like American royalty then."
Teddy was the last of the brothers that included a president, a World War II hero, and a Attorney General assassinated before he could (possibly) win the presidency. He was also the only brother that died from natural causes.
But he is also known for his very public car accident at Chappaquiddick, where his car plunged into water, he fled the scene, and his passenger died. Later, he pled guilty and apologized for his actions, and let the citizens of Massachusetts decide whether or not they would allow him back to public service.
He was known for his work in the legislature, known for small acts of kindess, and also known for his drinking and carousing with women.
In the end then, he was like most of us - flawed; damaged by what life's blows have dealt. But in spite of everything, he was also greatly loved. Even those who didn't agree with his politics are celebrating his life and his work.
I wish only this for my own life. That I live fully, and that people love me in spite of my flaws. In the words of Teddy Kennedy when eulogizing his own brother Bobby:
"My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: 'Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.'"
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